Why do government employees pay federal taxes?

[Fern]

This is why I specified federal taxes, specifically federal income taxes. The difference is not sending the money in a endless loop through the government.

-snip-

You seem to think the current system is a problem because:

1. The money goes through some endless loop where the government pays and then they pay it back.

NO.

The government withholds from their paycheck. One time, upon the end of the year and after filing tax returns, there will be a settlement and money will actually change hands. A one time settlement (refund or pay in more taxes).

The problem you describe does not exist.

2. Less paperwork/tax returns. Why create a bureaucracy to to do an 'in-house' tax calculation (taking into account marital status, dependants etc), then after the close of the year when they get their mortgage statement, broker statements, 1099 for interest etc, make them have to do another calculation including this new data. All this and the employee still has to file for state/local taxes?

Just do the dang tax return, it's easier.

Fern

 

[Cogman]

You seem to think the current system is a problem because:

1. The money goes through some endless loop where the government pays and then they pay it back.

NO.

The government withholds from their paycheck. One time, upon the end of the year and after filing tax returns, there will be a settlement and money will actually change hands. A one time settlement (refund or pay in more taxes).

The problem you describe does not exist.

And what happens when they pay their taxes? How is it processed, where does the money go? Doesn't the tax money go to things like paying government employees? Doesn't the government require workers to look over and handle tax filings?

2. Less paperwork/tax returns. Why create a bureaucracy to to do an 'in-house' tax calculation (taking into account marital status, dependants etc), then after the close of the year when they get their mortgage statement, broker statements, 1099 for interest etc, make them have to do another calculation including this new data. All this and the employee still has to file for state/local taxes?

Just do the dang tax return, it's easier.

Fern

and this may be a problem, after all, there is no way that they could exclude local taxes unless the federal government decided to pay states based on the number of federal government employees that currently live there, but that just sounds like a mess.

 

[Elfear]

50k a year, max salary no income tax taken on it.

Ya, I know plenty of people capable of efficiently handling a half a billion dollar budget that would do it for $50k a year.

Despite the media's current portrayal of govt. employees, there are some very sharp and very hard-working feds out there. A salary barely above that of the average college grad isn't going to cut it.

 

[bfdd]

Ya, I know plenty of people capable of efficiently handling a half a billion dollar budget that would do it for $50k a year.

Despite the media's current portrayal of govt. employees, there are some very sharp and very hard-working feds out there. A salary barely above that of the average college grad isn't going to cut it.

Maybe they should do it because they want to better our society, not because they can use it to line their pocket books.

One study showed that the employees of the IRS pay the lowest taxes; the implication being that they know better then anyone else what you can get away with. By making all government employees pay taxes they guarantee the government not only employees more people, but that the system pays for itself and possibly then some. If the government actually set out to make everything above board and simple then people might actually demand the same from politicians and corporations and that just wouldn't do.

how the hell could it possibly pay for itself? that doesn't even make sense.

 

[wuliheron]

how the hell could it possibly pay for itself? that doesn't even make sense.

Think about it, one poor schmuck over pays his income taxes by a couple of hundred dollars and it pays for the IRS to process a whole roomful of tax returns. At best most of them can afford to have their taxes done by H & R Block and don't keep good records. It's like any good scam, you send out enough letters and sooner or later you hook a live one.

 

[zephyrprime]

Why would it be impossible for the government to do yearly reviews of a persons situation? Why couldn't they say "You have kids, you got x amount. You don't have a home? you get Y amount."

At that point, it would cost more than processing their taxes the regular way. WAY more.

It's better that they pay taxes. Any sort of special privileges they get would look bad and make it seem like they are getting an unegalitarian special privilege. Also, it's good that they have to suffer the same as everyone else. Any special privilege they get would be abused eventually, GUARANTEED.

 

[zephyrprime]

It would be illegal to do so. They already don't pay social security tax.

They have been paying since 1984.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/RetirementandWills/CreateaPlan/5mythsAboutSocialSecurity.aspx

 

[Hacp]

Why the fuck are we giving tax breaks to people and not others? Its discrimination. Liberals hate single males. Period.

 

[nonlnear]

If income tax really were levied per job rather than per household it wouldn't be a bad idea, but given that taxes are levied per household it would make effective tax rates very inconsistent. Making federal wages tax free would make those jobs much more desirable to the wealthy than to lower income earners. $60K tax free is worth a lot more to the spouse of somebody making $200K than it is to the primary earner of a household.

 

[IronWing]

Why the fuck are we giving tax breaks to people and not others? Its discrimination. Liberals hate single males. Period.

LOL! Call your most conservative congress critters ask them to repeal the deductions for children and end the joint tax return. See what they do.

 

[CallMeJoe]

Why the fuck are we giving tax breaks to people and not others? Its discrimination. Liberals hate single males. Period.

Apparently you hate children and families...

 

[Nemesis 1]

When my daughter got pregenant she asked Us if they should marry I said hell no. She asked why. I said marriage tax . I said you can get all sorts of government benefits if ya stay single . She said isn't that cheating . I asked are you christian , She said yes. So I showed her a few things written in the old testament . You have my blessing and thats all thats required. She gets back in taxes way more than she pays in . This year with 2 children she scored big , She said isn't this wrong . I showed her again were it is the exact correct thing to do in the bible . The bible commands that you take back 2x what ya gave to the Beast(the System ) She said thank you this makes me feel good.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

It would be illegal to do so. They already don't pay social security tax.

From the Feds.

Q5: Is it true that members of Congress do not have to pay into Social Security?

A: No, it is not true. All members of Congress, the President and Vice President, Federal judges, and most political appointees, were covered under the Social Security program starting in January 1984. They pay into the system just like everyone else. Thus all members of Congress, no matter how long they have been in office, have been paying into the Social Security system since January 1984.
(Prior to this time, most Federal government workers and officials were participants in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) which came into being in 1920--15 years before the Social Security system was formed. For this reason, historically, Federal employees were not participants in the Social Security system.)
Employees of the three branches of the federal government, were also covered starting in January 1984, under the 1983 law--but with some special transition rules.
1) Executive and judicial branch employees hired before January 1, 1984 were given a one-time irrevocable choice of whether to switch to Social Security or stay under the old CSRS. (Rehired employees--other than rehired annuitants--are treated like new employees if their break-in-service was more than a year.)
2) Employees of the legislative branch who were not participating in the CSRS system were mandatorily covered, regardless of when their service began. Those who were in the CSRS system were given the same one-time choice as employees in the executive and judicial branches.
3) All federal employees hired on or after January 1, 1984 are mandatorily covered under Social Security--the CSRS system is not an option for them.

So there are still some Federal employees, those first hired prior to January 1984, who are not participants in the Social Security system. All other Federal government employees participate in Social Security like everyone else.

This change was part of the 1983 Amendments to Social Security. You can find a summary of the 1983 amendments elsewhere on this site.

Unless you started before 1984 you pay SS tax. BTW, my mother worked for the Feds, and paid into BOTH the federal system and SS from working privately. When it came time to collect her retirement, every dollar she earned from her pension was taken from her SS although she paid fully into both. That was one of Ron R.s ideas. Don't pay people what they worked for.

 

[JS80]

Why the fuck are we giving tax breaks to people and not others? Its discrimination. Liberals hate single males. Period.

They hate productive people too. I hit AMT so my second child doesn't even help me.

 

[Vette73]

They hate productive people too. I hit AMT so my second child doesn't even help me.

Ha I got that beat. My only son gets me nothing off our taxs. I remember last year was the first and with him on or off we got $0.00 differance.

Before we did our taxs I told my wife well at least we have him this yer.

 

[JS80]

Ha I got that beat. My only son gets me nothing off our taxs. I remember last year was the first and with him on or off we got $0.00 differance.

Before we did our taxs I told my wife well at least we have him this yer.

lawlz thought the same with my second